Tonight, I journaled for the first time since leaving Rwanda. My last entry was almost three weeks ago, a short, grief-filled passage written two hours after hearing we YAGM were being evacuated from our communities back to the United States. I titled it “Trusting Ambiguity”, a theme that has resonated with my Rwanda cohort throughout …
Author: Emily Ronsberg
Home for the Holidays
It is now November, inching toward December. The holiday season is beginning, and the annual “fight” about when Christmas music is allowable gains fresh momentum. (Personally, it doesn’t matter to me – if it brings you joy, that’s great! I randomly heard “Winter Wonderland” on a bus here a few weeks ago and it brought …
Overflowing Grace
I open my door to put my Chacos on. Though they’re sturdy sandals, they’re not the prettiest sight at the moment - dusty from walking down the dirt roads here or at school, and now muddy from the rain we’ve had all day. I’m a little disgusted with myself, because cleanliness, including having clean shoes, …
Unimaginable Love
At the end of August, our cohort began orientation in Kigali, Rwanda. After three weeks of orientation in the middle of September, we each got into cars or onto buses for the next step in our year – moving to our host family’s houses and communities. I, along with my host father Dr. David and …
Prepare Ye (So It Begins)
On the back of my dorm room door this past school year, I placed four sticky notes – one pink, another green, a third blue, and the fourth orange. Written on each sticky note was a word or phrase, something I wanted to remind myself of every time I left my room. Beloved. Whole. Unfinished. …
Embracing the dance; journeying home 